Bthe time you read this
the programmes I mention will be nearly two weeks behind us. Two of thern, in particular, made a lasting impact on me and would have done so, I am sure, on any other serious listener.
The first was B.B.C. TV's "Meeting Point" and was produced by the Rev. Oliver Hunkin. It dealt with such an importaet subject that, as so often happens, the '20 odd minutes allotted to it were not nearly long enough.
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IT was on children's questions about God and religion. Two parents Anne Allen and David Dunhill, discussed their ways of answering their children's questions with an expert-Eleanor Yanovske. She was not a Catholic but her answers were extremely good in their stress On the fundamental need for explaining that God is love.
The parents left me a little aghast. They were obviously very good and understanding towards their children but, especially in the case of Anne Allen. religion was not considered an integral part of the child's life-in fact, she halfwised her children did not have to know about religion until they were in their teens. Then they could decide for or against themselves.
The suffering that goes on_ in the world was another stumbling block. Our Lord's own suffering and sacrifice were not mentioned.
Antidote to anger
Then on the radio in another of that fine series "The Way of Life" Fr. Pletrick McEnroe gave us all a great deal of food for thought. His theme was 'Look Forward in Love" as opposed to looking back in anger.
The Catholic programmes in this series have always been so well thought out that it seems overpraise to say that this was the best of the lot. It may seem queer for me to say it-but the lack of music seemed to help the continuity. and one thought led to another with great smoothness and skill.
There was only one jarring note in the form of a rather long anecdote about true freedom_ The moral of the whole programme-that really angry young men do something about human misery and suffering (as did the Abbe Pierre for example). They don't just talk about it.
Joan Newton.